Copending commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 540,864, filed Jan. 14, 1975, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,947 relates to a launching apparatus for remote piloted vehicle (RPV) in which compressed air stored in a receiver expands to extend a telescopic tube assembly for launching the RPV when a latch holding the telescopic tube assembly back is released. It is important to make such launching apparatus as simple and dependable as possible and to facilitate its transportation and deployment in the field. An object of this invention is, therefore, to simplify the structure of such compressed air operated launching apparatus and to make its operation and deployment rapid, convenient, dependable and efficient.